Locking-catch for extendible sight-bars.



No. 7||,2|3. Patented uct'. 14, |902. o. c. HURNEY.

LOCKING CATCH FOB EXTEN'DIBLE SIGHT BARS.

l (Application med Mm. s, 1902.)

v 'figl- (No Modal.)

` UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ODUS C. HORNEY, OF THE NITED STATES ARMY.

LOCKINGfCATCH FOR EXTENDIBLE SIGHT-BARS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 71 1,213, dated October 14, 1902.

Application and Marot s, 1962.

To all whom, t may concern..-

Be it known that I, ODUS C. HORNEY, captain in the ordnanceV department of the United States Army, stationed at Springfield, in the county of Hampden and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Locking-Catch for Extendible Sight-Bars, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in sight-bars for machine-guns and cannons in which the sight is mounted upon the gun in a position which requires it to be elevated to a considerable height to serve in sighting the gun at long ranges,but where the sight in its inoperative position must have but a limited length.

The objects of my improvement. are to provide an extendible graduated sight-bar adapted to be at will elevated to the heights required, to provide means for supporting said sight-bar in its elevated positions, and to provide means forsuccessively bringinginto view the graduations on the sight-bar indicating the elevation of the sight andthe corresponding range of' the arm. I attain these objects by the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a rear elevation of the sight. Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the same. Fig. 3 is a top View of the same. Fig. 4 is a horizontal section at the line 4 4 of Fig. 2.

Similar letters referto similar parts throughout the several views.

The sight represented in the drawings comprises the sight-socket a, attachable by suitable means to the breech of' a gun, and the sight-bar movably mounted inthe vertical tubular seat of the sight-socket. The sight-- bar consists in two parts, of which the inner one b is mount-ed in the outer part b to slide therein and carries the projecting top b2, by which it may be drawn upward or depressed and in which a suitable sighting notch or aperture is provided. The graduations on the two parts ZJ and b are so arranged that for the lesser ranges the inner bar b' alone requires to be elevated, thereby exposing its'graduated scale at the top of the outer bar b, and only after the inner bar b has been fully raised should the outer bar b be elevated, thereby exposingits scale of graduations at the top of the -socket ct, corresponding to the longer ranges seria No. 96.521'. (No model.)

of the gun. To automatically lock the outer sight-bar ZJ in the socket whenever the inner bar b is depressed or only partially raised and to release the outer bar l) automatically as soon as the inner bar ZJ has been raised to its full extent, a locking-catch c is provided. At its top the outer bar b has a lateral projection fitted in a correspomlingr recess in the top of the socket a, which li mits the downward movement of the bar b, while a shoulder at its lower end limits the upward movement thereof. The upper projection contains thehorizontal seat for the locking-catch in form of the piston c, which rests against the innerl into a recess inthe socket a, thereby securely locking the outer sight-bar b to the sightsocket ct. Near its lower end the inner bar b has a recess b3, which corresponds with the locking-catch when the inner sight-bar bis fully raised and into which the spiral spring will at such time force the piston c, thereby interlocking the inner sight-bar b with the outer sight-bar l), simultaneously withdrawing the stem cfrom the socket a, and thereby releasing the outer bar b from the socket a, so that continued effort to raise the inner bar b/ will draw the outer bar b upward in the socket a. On pressing the sight-bar downward the locking-catch will cause the two interlocked sight-bars to move down together until the top projection of the outer bar l) is seatedin the socket a. On further downward pressure the beveled upper end of the recess b3 acts upon the piston c, the upper side of which is correspondingly beveled, and thereby overcoming the inward pressure of the spiral spring forces the locking-catch o out-l ward and the stem c' into the recess in the socket et, thereby again interlocking.,r the outer sight-bar l) with the socket a and releasing the inner bar b from the outer one. In this way the exten'dble sight-bar can be elevated only so as to first expose to View all the gradua- IOO tions on the inner bar b and then raise the outer bar b to bring into view the graduations thereon, and in lowering the sight the outer bar b must be entirely depressed before the inner bar b' can be depressed in said outer har. The pressure of the locking-catch c also serves to yieldingly support the inner sight-bar b' in any position to which it may be elevated' in the outer bar b, and in the socket a a flat spring d, is arranged to bear against'the bar b and yieldingly support the saine in any elevation to Which it may be raised.

I have herein shown and described my iinproved locking-catch as adapted to an eX- tendible sight-bar; but it will be evident that the features of myimprovement are not restricted to an application thereof to a sightbar, and I do not intend to restrict the present invention to a sight-bar.

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. The combination with the socket supporting an extendihle double bar, of a springactuated locking-catch, adapted to interlock said socket with one part of said extendible bar, and means in the other part of said eX- tendible bar for engaging said locking-catch, thereby releasing said bar from said socket and interlocking the parts of said extendible bar, substantially as and for the purpose speciiied.

2. The combination with the socket supporting an extendible double bar, of the spring-actuated looking-catch mounted in the outer part of said double bar and interlocking said outer part with said socket, a recess in the inner part of said double bar for engaging said locking-catch, thereby releasing said outer part from said socket and interlocking theparts of said double bar, and means for supporting the outer part of said double bar when elevated, substantially as and for the purpose described.

3. ln a sight for iirearms, an extendible double sight-bar, a socket for supporting said sight-bar, a catch for automatically locking the outer part of said sight-bar in said socket, and for automatically releasing said outer part from said socket by elevating the inner part of said sight-bar, whereby said outer part and said inner part are automatically intel-locked.

4. In a sight, the combination of a tubular socket, an outer sight-bar movably mounted in said socket, an inner sight-bar movably supported by said outer sight-bar, and a spring-actuated catch carried by said outer sight-bar, recesses in said socket and in said inner sight-bar adapted for engagement by said catch, whereby said catch automatically interlocks said outer sight-bar and said socket When said inner sight-bar is depressed, and automatically releases said outer sight-bar from said socket and interlocks said outer and inner sight-bars when said inner sightbar is fully elevated.

This specification signed and witnessed this 30th day of January, A. D. 1902.

ODUS C. HORNEY.

In presence of JNO. T. THOMPSON, H. W. BELL. 

